Seizures in dogs

[Snowflakey]

My daughters 3 year old lab had a seizure 6 months ago. Lasted a few minutes but scared us to death. She brought him to the emergency vet and also had an ultrasound done of his heart. All blood work, ultrasounds, etc was good.

6 months to the day, which was yesterday, her alarm went off at 4:50 am and he got off her bed and started having a seizure. I ran to her room. Ugh, it is the WORST thing to experience. My poor DD was a wreck and I'm trying to hold it together for the dog. He ended up having 2 seizures which the vet now calls "cluster seizures". Again we took him to the emergency vet and they kept him for 10 hours yesterday for observation. He didn't have any more. They started him on levetiracetam (brand name Keppra. This med has little to no side effects and its a low dose.

My question to all of you is has any of you had a dog who had seizures? I am fully aware that each dog is different but I'd like to hear your experience. Do we have a chance of this dog living a long life? I just don't know what to think going forward. My DD is in law enforcement and this dog is her life. I'm just so sad this is happening. He is such a good boy.

As always, thank you for your responses.

 

[Kellykins1218]

We've had 2 dogs that had seizures. One started when he was about 3 and he lived to be 15. They can absolutely have a long, happy, healthy life. He was on meds and would have one maybe every 4-6 months or so. Our basset hound had them but hers were due to a brain tumor which the vet said was very uncommon.

 

[gillep]

My beagle had a seizure when he was about 5 years old, it was terrifying!!!! I took him to his vet and they watched him overnight, he had another while there, so he went on phenobarbital. He had no seizures for about three more years, then, after coming out of anesthesia post teeth cleaning he had another. He passed last year, at 10 years old, due to stomach cancer. If he had not had stomach cancer, he likely would have been totally fine on his seizure meds. Phenobarbital can be tough on the liver, so we had that checked once a year, but he was always fine and his dose was very low.

Good luck to your daughter and furry friend, I was so frightened by the two seizures I witnessed, but he really did do quite well on his meds for many years.

 

[easyas123]

I haven't had any dogs with a seizure disorder, just one who had just once.... but I just want to offer you a bit of support. I've witnessed this and it's hard. The good thing is that vets are familiar with this situation and they have remedies to deal with it in many cases.
The very best of luck to him, and your daughter.

 

[bjscheel]

We had one, they would last just a couple minutes, several times a year. Other than those episodes, everything was fine. She just died last May, at age 15 or 16. It depends on cause, I'm sure, but the presence of seizures is not necessarily a sentence to a short life.

 

[Snowflakey]

Thanks everyone! So far you've given me hope with your responses.

 

[Makmak]

As a fellow dog owner I just wanted to add that I’m sorry you are going through this. I also wanted to add that if you use flea prevention please be careful with the product Bravevto (it’s new and the vets here are all pushing it because guess and ticks are immune to frontline in our area) but anyway it’s known to cause seizures and exacerbate existing seizure disorders. It’s in the “fine print” but I just wanted to put it out there as a precaution since a friend didn’t know and almost gave it to her found that suffers seizures.

 

[Snowflakey]

As a fellow dog owner I just wanted to add that I’m sorry you are going through this. I also wanted to add that if you use flea prevention please be careful with the product Bravevto (it’s new and the vets here are all pushing it because guess and ticks are immune to frontline in our area) but anyway it’s known to cause seizures and exacerbate existing seizure disorders. It’s in the “fine print” but I just wanted to put it out there as a precaution since a friend didn’t know and almost gave it to her found that suffers seizures.

Thank you for this! When our dog had his first seizure 6 months ago we wondered if it was his flea med or heartworm. We haven't given him any flea meds since. We are very nervous to start him back on it. We were told to use the flea collar as that was the best???

 

[Makmak]

Thank you for this! When our dog had his first seizure 6 months ago we wondered if it was his flea med or heartworm. We haven't given him any flea meds since. We are very nervous to start him back on it. We were told to use the flea collar as that was the best???

I don’t want to be like major “doom and gloom” but as of this very week there is a class action lawsuit going on against the Seresto collar makers. They are accused of causing major harm and even death of thousands of pets. I miss the days of simple frontline and heart guard.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Three is around the age that seizures can start in dogs. My neighbor’s dog has been living with seizures for about seven years now. He was stable for a long time, then two summers ago, they started again. I had to let their dogs out on night when they went to a wedding, and I was quite worried for what I saw. The dog was so heavily medicated, I practically had to carry him outside to go to the bathroom. And he wasn’t himself at all. But lo and behold, a year and a half later he is back to his old self! They worked it through. Sometimes it takes a while to get meds adjusted. I have heard of some dogs, too, who did not survive seizures, in all honesty. But let’s hope that that this Lab will be one of the survivors.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I don’t want to be like major “doom and gloom” but as of this very week there is a class action lawsuit going on against the Seresto collar makers. They are accused of causing major harm and even death of thousands of pets. I miss the days of simple frontline and heart guard.

Good point. A friend of mine talked to her vet about that issue and the vet called the company. They said that there were some knock offs that were causing the problem, and that their collars are safe. I sure hope so since that is what my dog wears (and he’s been fine). But it is something to look into if wearing that type of collar.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

Sometimes dogs will have one or two seizures in their life and then never any more and there’s nothing that really needs to be done about it. I’ve cared for many animals with seizure disorders and the degree to which it affects them just depends on how severe the condition, how well managed it is with meds, how they handle the meds, etc. Speaking of my personal pets, I had one dog who had 4-6 seizures throughout his life. He wasn’t medicated and I never pursued diagnostics because the seizures were too infrequent to really worry about. If he’d had other neuro signs or if the seizures had increased in frequency, then I would’ve explored it further. The seizures had no effect on his health or lifespan. I had another dog and a cat who developed seizures towards the very end of their lives when they were already dealing with end-stage diseases, the seizures were no doubt related to their preexisting conditions. Again, nothing to be worked up because they had bigger issues at that point. That’s not what your dog is dealing with anyway. If the seizures start becoming a frequent occurrence I recommend consulting with a neurologist.

 

[Snowflakey]

Sometimes dogs will have one or two seizures in their life and then never any more and there’s nothing that really needs to be done about it. I’ve cared for many animals with seizure disorders and the degree to which it affects them just depends on how severe the condition, how well managed it is with meds, how they handle the meds, etc. Speaking of my personal pets, I had one dog who had 4-6 seizures throughout his life. He wasn’t medicated and I never pursued diagnostics because the seizures were too infrequent to really worry about. If he’d had other neuro signs or if the seizures had increased in frequency, then I would’ve explored it further. The seizures had no effect on his health or lifespan. I had another dog and a cat who developed seizures towards the very end of their lives when they were already dealing with end-stage diseases, the seizures were no doubt related to their preexisting conditions. Again, nothing to be worked up because they had bigger issues at that point. That’s not what your dog is dealing with anyway. If the seizures start becoming a frequent occurrence I recommend consulting with a neurologist.

Thanks for your input. He just started meds so I'm hoping and praying that this will keep the seizures at bay. I'm shocked at how many people deal with this!

 

[bobbiwoz]

I really hope it works out for your family.

 

[RangerPooh]

I'm shocked at how many people deal with this!

Right! I’d never encountered or heard my friends talk about it before. Not until our own dog started experiencing them, and this thread began did I realize how common it just be.

I’ll have to look at the flea collar, I’m curious if this began around the time she started wearing a Seresto?

 

[elgerber]

Here is another thread, that has additional info.
(673) Seizures in Dogs | The DIS Disney Discussion Forums - DISboards.com

 

[HeatherC]

Are you by any chance using a Seresto collar for fleas and ticks? Our Cocker Spaniel has been having intermittent seizures for a few years. I just read about Seresto collars having the possibility of causing them as well as having 1700 plus deaths associated with them. We have now stopped using it and will see if she continues to have seizures.

Here is one article on it.

Check out this article from USA TODAY:

Popular flea collar linked to almost 1,700 pet deaths. The EPA has issued no warning.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...harm-pets-humans-epa-records-show/4574753001/

 

[2China2009]

What a timely post. I have had 2 dogs with seizures. Our 7 yo mini golden doodle Minnie Mouse is going to heaven tomorrow morning. She has been an epileptic for 6/yrs. She had been very well controlled on her meds until Jan of this yr. she was diagnosed with a brain tumor 2 weeks ago. We are heart broken, but she has no more quality of life. She has been my everything and I am going to miss her terribly.

 

[cobright]

Thanks everyone! So far you've given me hope with your responses.

Talk to your regular vet about whether, at this point, a seizure is a medical emergency. Generally, by the time they happen it's almost over and the emergency vet isn't going to tell you much that you couldn't find out the next business day.

I'm not trying to be mercenary about this but it might happen that the seizures are a symptom of something grave and expensive to treat and spending Vet ER money that you don't need to now may affect how much money you have to spend later.

 

[easyas123]

Talk to your regular vet about whether, at this point, a seizure is a medical emergency. Generally, by the time they happen it's almost over and the emergency vet isn't going to tell you much that you couldn't find out the next business day.

I'm not trying to be mercenary about this but it might happen that the seizures are a symptom of something grave and expensive to treat and spending Vet ER money that you don't need to now may affect how much money you have to spend later.

I think you make a excellent point-